It is known to treat lettuce under controlled pH, temperature and humidity conditions to produce a non-tobacco innocuous replacement for conventional tobacco cigarettes while providing user with the activity of smoking and inhaling and exhaling. In my U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,106,209 and 3,367,043, I have described procedure for the enzymatic hydrolysis of lettuce leaves for the above purpose and which after treatment are generally similar in physical appearance to commercial tobacco cigarettes since the treated lettuce leaves can be formed by means of the usual cigarette-making machinery into standard cigarette or rod-like shape and the resultant tobacco-less cigarettes made in accordance with the procedure of my said patents can if desired have flavoring, coloring and other materials such as odor-imparting materials applied thereto either on the surface or by impregnation during manufacture.
I have now discovered a significantly improved procedure for treating lettuce and leafy vegetables and plants, in particular lettuce and plants of the genus Lactuca as well as members of the genera Claytonia and Valerianella to produce a variety of useful products. Preferably, I employ cultivated lettuce in the form of head lettuce of the variety Lactuca sativa capitata all of which botanical classifications will hereinafter be collectively termed lettuce and leafy vegetable plants.